Elevator-door.



F.-J. HEARNSHAW.

ELEVATOR DOOR.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 6.1917- I Zfiwenor 1,252,266. 7 Patented Jan. 1,1918.

.and useful Improvements ara anion.-

FRANK J. HEARNSHAW, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

ELEVATOR-DOOR.

Specification of Letters ratent.

Patented Jan. 1,1918.

Application filed July 6, 1917. Serial No. 178,887.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK J. HEAR)!- SHAW, a citizen of the United States, reading at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new in Elevator- Doors, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to the construction and arrangement of slidable sheetmetal elevator doors of the class usually employed in connection with freight elevators.

The principalobject of the invention is to 'cause the doors to move toward and from one another in a manner whereby the doors on one floor will clear the doors on the next adjacent floor and at the same time the doors, when closed, will remain in close proximity to the floor sills, whereby no space is present between the sill and the door through which fire could escape from one floor to another.

A further object of the invention is to provide a short supplemental guide adjacent the doors of the next adjacent floor so as to firmly hold the doors in open position and insure their traveling in proper manner.

A further object of the invention is to provide a cable connecting the door members of each set of doors, which cable will be so arranged as not to interfere with the passage of the doors on the floors next adjacent, and at the same time will cause the door members to properly move to open and closed position.

A further object of the invention is to provide a finger at the outer end of each of the doors to insure its proper entrance into the supplemental short guide.

- The invention further consists in the fea tures of construction and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a front view of a series of doors. arranged according to the present invention;

Fig. 2, a vertical section through the parts shown in Fig. 1, with the doors in closed position;

' Fig. 3, a view similar to Fig. 2, with the doors of one floor in open positlon; and

Fig. 4, an enlarged sectional detail taken on line 44 of Fig. 1.

In the art to which the present invention relates, it is the common practice to construct the sheet-metal freight elevator doors of two door members which will simultaneously move toward and from one another in the closing and opening of the doors. So far as I am aware, these doors have been arranged in guides carrying them in straight vertical lines up and down, one in staggered or ofl'set relation to the other. In such arrangement of construction, there is a space left between at least one of the doors and'the floor sill through which space fire could escape from one floor to another. It is therefore necessary to insure against such escape of fire by placing a metal curtain behind the doors, which can be automatically released in case of fire, and thus shut off the passage of the fire through the space between the doors and member are channel guides 7 which, as will be understood from Fig. 3,,are of V-formation, with the apex 8 at the point where the companion doors abut when they are closed,

there being one of said guides furnished for each set of doors. Traveling within these guides are companion doors 9 and 10, the door 9, for the purpose of clearness, being referred to as the upper door and the door 10 as the lower door.

By referring to Fig. 4, it will be seen that there is a space 11 between the side edges of the door and the end wall 12 of the guide, the purpose of which will be hereinafter explained. A supplemental or short ide 13 is arranged in close proximity to t d doors of the floor next ad acent, and, as will be understood from Fig. 3, when the doors are in open position, the supplemental guide serves to rigidly hold them in place and insure their accurate and true movement. A finger 14 is afixed to" the outer end of each door, which serves to insure proper entrance of the door into the supplemental guides 13.

Each set of doors is operated by means of a cable 15 passing over what may be termed an upper pulley 16, an intermediate pulley 17, and a lower pulley 18, each of'which is fixedly secured in position in any suitable manner. One end of the cable is suitably affixed to the upper end of the lower door 10, thence passes around the intermediate pulley 17, thence downward and around the lower pulley 18, thence upward and around I theupper pulley 16, and thence downward in the space 11 between the guide and upper door to the lower end of the upper door.

It isobvious that as motion is imparted to one of the doors, the cable will act upon the other to move it in a reverse direction, whereby the opening and closing of the doors is carried out. By placing the cable connected to the upper door within the channel 11', the said cable is placed out of the path of travel of the lower door of the floor next adjacent, allowing said door to freely move to-open position. It will be noted from the drawings that the entire cable is placed in such position as not to interfere in any way with the movement of the doors on the floors next adjacent.

Referring now to Figs. 2 and 3, it will be seen that the doors in moving from the position of Fig. 2 to the position of Fig. 3 move in oblique directions, which are" at opposed angles to one another, and such oblique movement allows each door to pass, when raised, the door on the fioornext adjacent. The outer face 19 of each door, when the doors are closed, is placed in close promixity to the sill 20 of the floor landings, so that at no time is any space present between the doors and sill landing through which fire might escape from one floor to the other.

This is a very important feature, since, as

previously stated, there is such serious objec: tion to the presence of space at this point as to require the provisionof supplemental fire screens. The doors operate in the same general manner as the standard type of door and are simple and cheap of installation.

While the invention has been described with considerable particularity, it is not deemed to be limited except as may be by the terms of the appended claims.

In the specification and claims wherever the term sill is used, it is meant to embrace the head at the top of the door opening as well as the sill at the bottom of the door opening- I claim:

1. In an elevator door, the combination of companion door members arranged to move toward and from one another, means for guiding said doors in their to and fro move ments to cause them to move in diagonal directions and clear the doors of the floor next adjacent, andeach of said doors when menace cation between one floor and another past said sill, substantially as described.

2. In an elevator door, the combination of companion door members arranged ,to move toward and from one another, one face ofeach of said doors lying in a similar position of close proximity to a floor sill when the doors are closed, closing communication from one floor to another past said sill, and means for guiding said doors in their to and from movements to carry them in other than a straight vertical movement, whereby each door in its movement clears the door of the floors next adjacent, substantially as described.

3. In an elevator door, the combination of companion door members arranged to move toward and from one another, guides for said door members comprising channelshaped members arranged to lie at an angle to a vertical plane with the angle of the guide for one door being opposed to the angle of the guide for the other door, whereby each of said doors moves in an oblique line of travel and clears the doors of the floors next adjacent, and each door when closed lying in a similar position of close proximity to a floor sill, cutting off communication between the floors past said sills, substantially as described.

4. In an elevator door, the combination of companion door members arranged to move toward and from one another, guides for said door members comprising channelshaped members arranged to lie at an angle to a vertical plane, with the angle of the guide for one door being opposed to the angle of the guide for the other door, whereby each of said doors moves in an oblique line of travel and clears the doors of the floors next adjacent in its movements, each door when closed lying in a similar position of close proximity to a floor sill, cutting oif communication between the floor past said sills, and a short supplemental guide adj acent the doors of the adjoining floors to receive the doors when in open position, substantially as described.

5. In an elevator door, the combination of companion door members arranged to move toward and from one another, a guide for said door of channel construction made in V- formation with the apex thereof at the point of meeting of the doors when closed, said guides causing the doors to move in an oblique direction, whereby they clear the doors on the floors next adjacent, and each of said doors when closed lying in a similar position of close proximity to a floor sill, cutting ofl communication between floors past said sills, substantially as described.

FRANK J. HEARNSHAW.- 

